GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - For the second-straight season, the No. 13/11 Green Bay women's basketball team finds itself in game pitting a No. 5 seed with a No. 12 seed. This time around, the highly-touted Phoenix (32-1) will be the top seed and play Arkansas-Little Rock (23-7), the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champions, in the first round on Sunday at 4:20 p.m. CT in Wichita, Kan. As Green Bay prepares for the Trojans, GreenBayPhoenix.com takes a look at the first-round opponent looking to knock off the Phoenix.
SCOUTING THE TROJANSUALR started the season at just 3-5 while playing a tough non-conference schedule that included four road games and contests against Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. Head coach Joe Foley's team then rattled off 14 consecutive wins midway through the season and finished with a 14-2 record in Sun Belt play.
In the Trojans' run to the conference tournament title last week, UALR never allowed more than 59 points and used stifling defense to win its second game 47-37 over Florida International.
UALR allows just 52.2 points per game and has held opponents to 37.0 percent shooting from the field, including a putrid 25.6 percent from long range which ranks as the fourth-best nationally.
The Trojans do the majority of their damage on the offensive end inside the arc, hitting just 31.2 percent from three this season. However, sophomore guard Janette Merriex (51-160) and senior point guard Ariel Rolfe (44-136) have combined to hit 96 of the team's 122 made threes.
UALR PROBABLE STARTERS
G:
#3 Asriel Rolfe, Sr., 5-6 (8.3 ppg, 4.7 apg, 44-136 3FGs)
G:
#10 Shanika Butler, Sr., 5-7 (7.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 74-104 FTs, 64 steals)
G:
#34 Janette Merriex, So., 5-10 (7.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 51-160 3FGs)
F: #20 Chastity Reed, Sr., 6-1 (19.4
ppg, 6.3 rpg, 238-555 FGs, 54 steals)
F:
#54 Marian Kursh, Jr., 6-0 (8.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 57% FGs, 59 off. rebounds)
SIMILAR OFFENSIVE STYLES
Like
Green Bay, UALR runs a motion offense and moves the ball effectively. UALR
averages 14.8 assists per game and is in the top-20 in the country in
assist-to-turnover ratio.
KEY MATCHUP
An
interesting matchup will be at one of the forward spots where two conference
players of the year will square off. For Green Bay, co-Horizon League Player of
the Year Kayla Tetschlag (Sheboygan,
Wis.) averages 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest. One of Tetschlag's
major strengths is her ability to get to the free-throw line, where the 6-foot
senior is 122-of-149 (81.9) this season. The Trojans counter with one of the
country's leading scorers, 6-foot-1 Sun Belt Player of the Year Chastity Reed. Averaging 19.4 points
and 6.3 rebounds per game, Reed has taken more than a third of her team's shots
and 300 more than any Trojan teammate. She was fourth in the country in scoring
(24.3) a season ago and has scored more than 2,000 points in her career.
FIRST-ROUND KNOCKOUTS
Both
UALR and Green Bay posted first-round upset wins a season ago in the 2010 NCAA
Tournament. Green Bay, as a No. 12 seed, defeated fifth-seeded Virginia, 69-67
on March 21. The Trojans, who were a No. 11 seed, knocked off sixth-seeded
Georgia Tech 63-53 as part of UALR's 27-7 season.
For more information on the NCAA Tournament and for exclusive content on the Phoenix throughout the postseason, please visit GreenBayPhoenix.com's NCAA Tournament Central presented by Taco Bell.
